by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
Shot on film in the mold of 30 Rock and The Office, with no laugh track (therefore qualifying it for my review) NBC has launched the Andy Richter/Conan O’Brien collaboration Andy Barker P.I. O’Brien wrote the pilot and is co-executive producer. Aside from Richter’s seven year tenure as O’Brien’s sidekick on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, he and O’Brien have collaborated on various noteworthy projects. In fact, they are writing partners.
Happily for all concerned, the show is funny and fast-paced in the 30-minute format. Richter’s delivery is droll and quirky as a mild mannered accountant who stumbles into another man’s detective agency and is sucked into a dangerous world of Russian mobsters and beautiful vamps al la the pulp detective novel.
In the pilot, Richter, as Barker, opens an accountant office in a mall, making friends with other mall businessmen. Barker’s first day of work is a bust–the phone doesn’t ring. Then, suddenly, in the late afternoon, a gorgeous woman in red strolls into his office and throws 4 grand on his desk, mistaking him for the private detective who formerly occupied the office. Before Barker can say anything, she leaves and he is staring at the money and thinking that he’s in the wrong profession. Soon, he starts to investigate the disappearance of the woman’s husband and is sucked into a web of intrigue.
Before long, Barker is up to his eyeballs in Russian mobsters and shady characters. When faced with sticky situations, Barker pleads that he’s only an accountant, like that will save him from harm. To satisfy his curiosity, Barker tracks down the real P.I. who abruptly left the office he now occupies. He finds the man in an old-peoples’ home in a wheelchair. To Barker’s chagrin, the old guy is not crippled but hiding out from the Russian mob. While there, Barker gets the skinny on the caper and decides to collaborate with the curmudgeonly old man on the case.
It didn’t take Barker long to change professions. Being a P.I. is infinitely more exciting than crunching numbers all day. Thus, a new gumshoe is born, somewhat reluctantly, but the money is good and his self image has improved. His wife, Jenny (Clea Lewis) would not approve, so Barker lets her believe that his accounting business has taken off like a rocket. More significantly, Barker discovers he has a knack for detective work. His accountant persona is a perfect cover for his covert sleuthing.
Nicole Randall Johnson almost steals the pilot episode as a spacey archives clerk who absolutely can not multitask. She appears in only two episodes, which is too bad. She’s a natural comic actor whose character could have been developed. Other cast members add greatly to the oddball comedy slant of the series. Barker’s accidental mentor, the retired P.I., Lew Staziak (Harve Presnell), is a pivotal character. Tony Hale deftly portrays Simon, Barker’s strip-mall friend (he runs a movie-rental store turned crime busting headquarters, complete with high-tech video surveillance gear). Wally (Marshall Manesh) runs the Afghan restaurant, but after 9/11, he went overboard on his pro-American slogans–“MSG No–USA Yes” reads one of his signs.
Fans of O’Brien and Richter will agree that Barker is Richter’s most interesting and funny character. Since O’Brien and Richter are practically joined at the hip as comedy writers, Richter channels O’Brien’s zany style as the nerdy Barker. The fast-paced action seems an exciting counterpoint to Barker’s laid-back nature. He seems the most unlikely person to go running after suspects. But Barker gets so excited, he forgets he’s terribly out of shape, and after running 100 yards is panting for breath.
Harve Presnell seals his scenes as Lew Staziak. He’s right out of a dime novel–old school to the core. Staziak’s a tough old bird who hates hippies, Castro, and speaks in a tough guy language straight out of some old gangster movie. He is the gruff counterpoint of Barker’s wimpy nature. But when Staziak gets Barker fired up, anything can happen because Barker doesn’t realize that he’s in mortal danger. When faced with bad guys, Barker thinks they are holding their finger in their coats a la some old movie, when in fact, they have real guns. His friend Simon is always relating every situation to a movie script, especially Chinatown.
The show airs on Thursdays, at 9:30 pm ET, nicely placed in NBC’s comedy Thursday lineup. Since I’m a fan of Conan O’Brien’s comedic writing genius, I’m pulling for this show to make it. Richter is also a gifted comedic writer. The outlook is bright for Andy Barker, P.I.
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